Oakspear

I wasn't referring to present-day TWI, unless you think that VP Wierwille is still alive.

Here and there on Grease Spot one reads references to things that we remember being taught in TWI as "not what 'Doctor' taught" or practices that would have been stopped "if 'Doctor' knew about it". The implication is that "leadership" or "the Corps" somehow betrayed Wierwille's vision and headed off in direction s that he didn't approve of. I'm specifically talking about when Wierwille was alive, when he could have done something about anyone straying from his path. An example might be the "Law of Believing". All over "the ministry" people were being taught a simplfied version believing = receiving, and being blamed when their so-called believing didn't pan out; yet some Wierwille apologists suggest that Wierwille taught otherwise. Was his "ministry" so out of his control that his teachings were twisted? Or were the Corps carrying out exactly what he wanted?

...and nobody can tell me that Sudo doesn't answer prayers :D-->

Our company has two every January, half the stores go one Friday night and half the next. We use the local auditorium/arena that is normally used for concerts, basketball games and indoor football. We have cocktails, dinner, dancing and a prize drawing. I've gone every year; this will be my sixth. There usually is a lot of drinking, and occassionally someone needs to be shut off or escorted home, but generally everyone is pretty well behaved.

So, each "adminsitration" is a period of time, right? The "Law administration" was for Israel, right? What "administration" were non-Jews under while Israel was under the law? Not just non-Jews living just outside Israel's borders, but, say, Vikings or Siberians or Apaches?

Or sometimes the holes are there and we just point them out. Most of the ex-Way people I encounter (here and elsewhere) do very well at separating any animosity and resentment from examination of the Way's doctrines and practices. Who said that? No one here...got a quote Biblefan? Gee, I don't see the connection. Why would a reference to TWI theology necessarily indicate bitterness, etc.? Yet there was a TWI "corporate culture" that drove how many people acted. I want to be like you when I grow up ;)--> If you think that there is complete argreement about what the bible says about various subjects, or that it's as clear as you make it, you are incredibly naive. Ah, there's the rub...determining what and what was not true. Practicing psychiatry without a license are we?

It's like pole vaulting in the dark: you don't know how high you're supposed to jump, nor how long the pole is that will get you there, nor how far away the cross bar is, nor how far you missed it by. Welcome back to the fray Mike, working on the logic I see, although still operating from an unsupported premise ;)--> - we disagree as usual, but at least you use complete sentences (lots of 'em) and appear to have a grasp of spelling and basic grammar

...and how convenient to have something that can't be measured (i.e. your own believing) to blame if things don't come to pass as imagined.

Okay, so there is (according to Mike and the now deceased Wierwille) a law of believing that "simply stated" is believing = receiving, but is in reality more complicated than that. Other variables include "community believing" and the negative impact of the non-believing world. Apparently the only way to really know if you are believing is if you are receiving, because if you're not receiving, your not really believing. Naw, that's not circular at all :P-->

If the "law of believing", i.e. believing = receiving were true, then the world would be a lot more chaotic than it already is, with people "believing" for competing things. If the "law of believing" is true, then why do people not recieve what they "believe" for 100% of the time?

You say "witchcraft" like it's a bad thing ;)-->

I always look under my therapist's car when I hear somebody honk their horn while counting steps.

Heck, praise me, if you can't come up with something better ;)-->

Happy birthday my brotha'

Happy Birthday Brother

You would have to quit talking about them to accomplish that. It's not possible to forget something you constantly talk about. That's the biggest reason why they don't go away. That is why I always close my posts with the following: Lindy not talking about TWI would cause his family and friends to have TWI erased from their minds? -->

We really oughta plan for a bunch of GSers crashing one of these events. It'll be fun ;)-->

Lindy: Sometimes I forget that for you, leaving TWI meant breaking with your family, unlike most of us for whom leaving TWI meant reconciling with our families. What paperwork do I have to fill out to adopt you? :D-->

Just don't bring your critical thinking skills

I'm not an expert on conferences, but I liked the setup of the Dallas location. Is it the Wydham Anatole? Before they started trekking to Dallas, we had a few WIB's in Chicago at the Hilton. Beautiful Hotel (I was there this June for a grocery industry conference and trade show), but wasnh't set up to handle the flow of big crowds very well. You left the meeting rooms only to find yourself in narrow corridors. Dallas' meeting rooms let out into a roomy atrium; much better. I gotta say that the so-called "meal packages" were a joke. I always ate better and cheaper in the reastaurants and kiosks.

My experience of Christmas in The Way (never in the Corps or on staff) was of a confusing mish-mosh of traditional observances and self-righteous "accuracy". Most people I knew decorated trees, opened presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning and put up lights and other outside decorations. Some would get together with non-Way relatives. On the other hand just saying the word "Christmas" would get you a lecture on how Christmas came from "Christ-mass"; the mass celebrates Christ's death (it doesn't) so therefore saying "Merry Christmas" was equivalent to rejoicing in death --> We did the carolling with the stupid "accurate" lyrics as well, and I even wrote Way lyrics to a lot of the traditional carols myself :o--> It was my observation that TWI couldn't make up it's collective mind what it wanted to do, they railed about the pagan origins of many Christmas traditions, yet celebrated them anyway. And the name change to "Household Holiday" --> - other than the convenient abbreviation to "Ho Ho" - what was it about December 25th that made it a HOUSEHOLD holiday? -->

Sounds like it fits in nicely Evan

Explanation about what I mean by "seed" having to be figurative: Just as a reference to "the hand of God" is figurative, anthropopatheia, since God doesn't have literal hands; God doersn't have literal sperm, or seed, so it seems like a reference to "seed" would also be anthropopatheia.

Interesting point G. Wierwille pushed the point that the "seed" was literal, when if you think about it, since it's spirit, the reference would have to be figurative. I imagine this would have implications as to the spirits being permanant, and not "conditional" as we were taught in PFAL

That's deep ;)-->